


like broken thunder

by neurolingual



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Camp Counselors, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, F/F, also mosquitoes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-03-09 21:03:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3264335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neurolingual/pseuds/neurolingual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're the last ones in the mess hall, so they're at the end of the line, but Asami doesn't care. She can see the skin on Korra's shoulders move, stretching the dusted freckles near her neck when she motions through the technique she learned from her father when she was waist high, too. Just like Asami.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. it was hidden in the fall

**Author's Note:**

> what i need all of you to do right now before you read this is listen to "thunder clatter" by wild cub because that's where this title came from AND IT'S SUCH A GOOD SONG and you need to listen to it right. now. i've had it on repeat throughout this whole story-writing process. 
> 
> and!!! i'm so excited to finally put this out there because i've been wanting to do a camp counselors au for like, forever, and never found a ship to fit it well BUT KORRASAMI IS SO GOOD TO ME i decided to return the favor.
> 
> i am so tired this took me forever. pls enjoy. i'm so done with winter.

_you will remember that leaping stream_   
_where sweet aromas rose and trembled,_   
_and sometimes a bird, wearing water_   
_and slowness, its winter feathers._

_you will remember those gifts from the earth:_   
_indelible scents, gold clay,_   
_weeds in the thicket and crazy roots,_   
_magical thorns like swords._

_you'll remember the bouquet you picked,_   
_shadows and silent water,_   
_bouquet like a foam-covered stone._

_that time was like never, and like always._   
_so we go there, where nothing is waiting;_   
_we find everything waiting there._

– sonnet iv | pablo neruda

 

* * *

 

 

The air is warm, sticky against Asami's thighs, and the breeze doesn't bring a cooling calm; just more hot air and waves that rise from the ground, and this much sun can _not_ be good for her skin.

The good thing is that she has one more day before the campers arrive, and she can soak up the glory of summer in its earliest dawn before she's chasing children as tall as her waist around, yelling at them to _watch out for snakes_  and _POISON IVY IS REAL, DON'T TOUCH THAT._

(She'll end up having to lather ointment on at least thirteen snotty brats' arms and legs before the camp closes for the summer; last year she had eleven kids to treat, and the year before it was fifteen, so she thinks thirteen is a good estimate.)

Tenzin had already assigned her a cabin, and her shiny lanyard with _Asami_ swirled on it in pink and purple crayon hung loose around her neck. She was just wandering the camp grounds, now, busying herself with something to do other than listening to the malicious humming of mosquitoes from the bushes bordering the forest.

Mako was around here somewhere; she had seen him wander off earlier this morning. Probably down to the docks, per usual, to watch the sun paint the small river in varying shades of orange. Or he could be buffing the kayaks again. Both were valid guesses.

Bolin and Opal had been stolen away to help induct the new counselor they were getting this year, since Opal's brother Wei had moved to Ba Sing Se and decided not to come back for the summer. It was some girl from Alaska; at least, that's what Asami _hoped_  she had remembered Tenzin saying. It was too hot and sticky for her brain to catch on to reality.

She finds Mako sitting on the dock, his jeans rolled to mid-calf and his toes in the water, leaning back into the sun. Asami's sneakers clunk against the wood, and Mako turns and sees her, offers a smile and a wave and scoots over from the middle to make room.

Asami shucks off her shoes and socks, sits on the edge of the dock next to Mako, and hangs her feet over the edge; her biggest toe barely skims the water.

"It's so hot," she mumbles, shading her eyes from the sun. Mako hums beside her, wiggling his toes to create ripples in the water.

"I hope you brought sun screen, then," he says. "It's supposed to be hot all summer."

Asami has half a mind to shove him straight into the river and see where the current takes him, but she settles on a pout and a "Don't patronize me."

Mako smiles in lieu of a laugh and they settle into silence. Asami can feel the sunshine itching at her shoulders, no doubt already turning pink.

The sky is blue and almost cloudless, a smear of white over the tree tops from the other side of the riverbank. It wasn't due to rain for a few more days, which meant Asami couldn't walk along the skim of sand on the shore if she wanted to spare her feet.

They hear fumbling in the grass and a crack of laughter, and Asami turns but Mako doesn't, and he mumbles, "It's probably just Bolin."

"And Opal," she says, seeing Bolin's girlfriend a few feet behind him, and another shadow follows at her side. "And the new girl."

She pulls her toes from the river and stands carefully on the dock. She doesn't need splinters on top of the sunburn she's probably already sporting.

Bolin waves as he stumbles down the hill to the end of the dock, waiting for Asami and Mako to meet him there. He wasn't wearing shoes (he never does when he's here in the summer), and he was probably thinking about splinters, too, but Mako's feet thunder down the wood and Asami tries not to wince when he almost steps on a nail.

"Hey!" Bolin's smile is bright, his chest heaving and his forehead shiny with sweat. "Opal and I just got finished showing Korra around. We've been looking for you guys!"

Asami's eyes flicker to the girl at Opal's side. Her hair falls just below her jaw, shoulders broad under the slimming blue of her sleeveless tee. Her jean shorts are torn and fraying against her thighs, like she's made them herself, and she has a lanyard around her neck, too, _Korra_  written with each letter of her name a different color, and a lopsided doodle of a dog that Asami sees when she makes her way closer. It makes her smile.

"Korra." Bolin sweeps his arm out in front of him. "This is my brother Mako, and Asami, his..." he seems to pause and look the two of them over. Asami sees a flash of something in his eyes, but he lets whatever words held on his tongue fall silent.

"Hey, Korra." Mako's smile is charming, and Asami recognizes the lower octave change in his voice. She almost doesn't stop herself from rolling her eyes.

Korra waves back, her hand shyly tucking itself behind her back with the other.

Asami steps forward into the grass. "I'm Asami," she says, mouth in a gentle smile and shoulders relaxed. Korra meets her eyes and says _hey_  back, and Asami takes note of how blue they are.

"We were going to take Korra to the mess hall for lunch." Opal moves to Bolin's side and hooks her fingers around his elbow. "You know, before we go out shopping for... _camp counselor stuff_." She wiggles her eyebrows and Asami laughs.

Korra just blinks. "'Camp counselor stuff'?"

"Booze," Mako says bluntly -- never was the tip-toeing around kind of guy -- and Korra's shoulders push back with the rush of hot wind.

"I thought Tenzin said-"

"He says that every year." Opal leans her head back and fixes Korra with a smirk. "We never listen."

Korra nods but doesn't say anymore.

Bolin rallies them all and leads them up the bank back to the grassy field, and Asami lingers in the back of the group, watching Mako sway into Korra's space and Korra not paying him any mind, just watching the silhouetted leaves from the trees above swing with the breeze.

Asami smiles to herself.

"So." Mako scratches the back of his neck. "I hear you're from Alaska."

Asami snorts. Mako shoots her a look over his shoulder.

Korra follows his eyes, finds Asami giggling into her palm. She looks out of sorts, and narrows her eyes when Mako's smile is too much. "...yeah."

"It must be different here." Mako's cheeks are turning pink and Asami is _loving this_. "Y'know, with it being such a drastic, uh. Change in the weather."

Korra says another belated _yeah_ and turns her head forward.

"Alaska is... cold," Mako tries, and Asami can barely hold it together; her stomach is starting to hurt.

She quickens her pace till she's at Korra's side. "What made you want to come down here?" She swings her arms together behind her back and grins wide when Korra blinks her way.

There's a small smile tracing Korra's lips, and it's gentle against the creases around her eyes. "Wanted a change of scenery, I guess." She barely shrugs. "There's a lot of snow where I'm from."

Asami nods with a hum. "Well, I can guarantee you won't be seeing any snow here. Unless it be some freak accident."

(Mako glowers behind Asami the rest of the way to the mess hall, smacks her pony tail when she holds open the door for Korra with a charming smile and shuffles into the kitchen to steal carrots from Pema without her knowing. Korra takes a seat beside Asami at one of the tables, and the air suffocating Asami down feels lighter for once).

 

 

 

(Korra rides with Bolin and Opal in Tenzin's pick-up to the nearest liquor store, and Mako throws pebbles at the tree Asami's resting under, her eyes closed and hair tilted back against the bark.

"Thanks for making me look like an idiot," he groans, plopping down into the hammock next to Asami's shoulder.

She hums, peeking one eye open with a teasing smile. "I didn't have to do much work.")

 

 

 

The trumpet blares through the speaker system, and Asami surely doesn't remember missing this.

The first day, sloppy with a hangover and limbs that cling to the bed like cinder blocks, with Lin's poor trumpet-playing into the camp intercom. She always misses the rest of the summer. Never the first day.

Her lipstick was smeared against her pillow and the air is stickier than it was yesterday. She ignores the drool on her sheets and swings her legs over the edge of the bed, breathes slow when her stomach clenches.

Letting Opal talk her into that sixth beer was a mistake.

When she moves from her cabin, tying the last of her hair back, she's at least glad to see everyone looks as bad -- if not worse -- than she; Bolin's about to fall into the grass, and Mako doesn't look too far behind him; Opal looks like she's about to hurl.

Korra, though. Asami grimaces. She looks as fresh-faced as ever, excitement buzzing through her jittery limbs.

Asami joins them at the line up. They give her tired groans, which she reciprocates, but Korra's eyes flash her way and her voice sounds louder than it probably is to Asami's sad brain. "Good morning!"

Asami can _feel_  the bags under her eyes. She frowns.

Lin stomps out of the main building with Tenzin at her side, a clipboard in her hand and a wrist on her hip. "The campers will be here in one hour." She flicks her eyes over her line of counselors, and her frown actually _deepens_ , somehow. "You all look like a bunch of sick platypus-bears."

Tenzin focuses his gaze on Asami and she straightens as much as she can without throwing up. His eyes narrow, but she smiles in practice, and he moves down the line, stopping to look back at Korra only once.

"Everyone," he says. "We have a big summer ahead of us. I need you all to be on your best behavior." He wags a finger in Mako's direction. "These kids will be looking up to you, and I don't want to hear about any accidents. This is an alcohol and smoke free zone, do you hear me?"

There's a chorus of _yes, sir_ , before Lin rattles off the objectives for the day, and dismisses everyone with a final scowl.

Mako goes to the docks; Bolin follows Tenzin back to the mess hall, and Opal moves to the arts and crafts hut.

Asami wills her legs to move from the mud but pauses when a gentle hand touches her elbow.

"I don't know where they kayaks are," she says, and Asami smiles.

"Down by the docks." Korra starts to frown. "With Mako."

"Great." Korra frowns full-force. "He's going to try and talk to me again."

Asami lets out a flutter of a laugh that builds from her chest. "Don't worry, he's harmless."

But Korra's already moving to the shore with a scowl, and Asami watches her go, watches her disappear beyond a row of trees before moving to the archery station to take inventory.

 

 

 

The registration booth is slammed by midday, and lines are backed up all the way to the parking lot. Su and Lin have been running back and forth across the fields, trying to placate and impatient parents while Tenzin directs the traffic down the road. Bolin is helping Opal with all the paperwork, and Asami is just standing to the side with Mako, the two of them avoiding interaction for as long as they possibly can.

But Korra worms her way through a group of parents and over to them, and Asami begins to smile, feels Mako shift his shoulders beside her.

"There are _so many_  people!" Korra's grin is of childish wonder, and Asami follows the curve of it into her cheeks, the pale brown of her lips free of makeup. Asami purses her red mouth.

"This may be the most we've ever gotten." Mako looks over the crowd and nods to himself. "There really are a lot. I can't even see the back of the line."

"Let's hope we don't hit max capacity." Asami pushes off the wall and follows when Lin beckons for the three of them. "I had to deal with some _not-so_  happy campers sleeping on the floor in my cabin last year."

Registration takes another hour, and Su and Pema somehow manage to congregate all one hundred kids plus parents to the fire pit, the sun beginning its stages of tucking out of sight from the sky, sinking below the treetops on the riverbank.

Tenzin blows through his long winded speech like he does every year, all _welcome to Sato Estates_  and _it's the safest camp ground in the entire Republic_ and yada yada, Asami's heard it all before. She sits on a log between Mako and Bolin near the back of the group, watching Korra from under the hood of her lashes, the way she slips forward in her seat, edging closer to Tenzin with his every word.

Korra's eyes are so wide, so bright in the slowly sinking summer sun, mouth split in a grin when Tenzin starts on about the ghost stories and fireworks and all the friendships formed here on these acres that are sure to last a life time.

Asami wonders how much Korra takes in and how much she believes under the spark of her smile.

The parents are shooed out by six, and Tenzin calls for cabin assignments, and Asami stands, stretching till her back pops and moves when her cabin number gets called.

"Asami here," Tenzin points to her in the back and she raises a hand, smiles warm at all the little, new, excited faces, "is the cabin adviser for all of you assigned to Group Turtleducks."

Kids all around the fire pit stand, tall and short, shaggy haired and freckle faced. All still kids, Asami reminds herself.

"She'll take you back to your cabin for your bunk assignments."

A group of ten gaggling tweens waddle through the dirt and the obstacles of legs and knees to make it to her side, and Tenzin breaks off the rest of the kids with their cabin advisers (Korra seems to be too pleased when she remembers she's the leader of Group Penguin and Asami's chest brims with laughter as Korra _marches_  her group across the grass).

Asami leads her group to the farthest cabin in silence, the shuffle of feet in the dirt kicking up a cloud of dust that sticks to her sweat shins.

They near the cabin and Asami flings the door open, barely has enough time to dodge the swarm trying to fit through the door all at once disguised as a group of thirteen and fourteen year olds, fights off a frown as her toes get stepped on. The bed frames creek under their new weights as the kids clamber to a free spot, all settled down before Asami even has one foot in the door.

She takes a look around the cabin and nods, lips tugging up at the corners. "Good. Very organized."

They rattle through introductions; Asami has Jinora, Tenzin's daughter, and a Kai, a Botan, two Mai's, one lanky kid named Rhyu (who looks like he should be a counselor instead of a camper), and she's too concerned that she's melting to catch the names of the others as she pulls at the collar of her shirt. It's whatever. She'll have all summer to learn, anyway.

"Asami," that Kai-boy says. "Are there really ghosts here like Mister Tenzin said?"

Asami's smile twists wicked, and she's _really_  going to enjoy this.

"Oh, yeah." She leans against the frame of his bunk, watches him swallow, slow and loud. "But, you'll have to ask Bolin about it." She locks eyes with Rhyu, who looks a little less bored, now, with eyes narrow under the frame of his glasses and the swoop of his hair. "He's seen them first hand, wandering the camp grounds at night."

The air of the room stills, and Asami should feel cruel, feel wicked, but she's been melting in the heat since seven this morning for these kids, and she's been desperate for some way to amuse herself. If it comes at the expense of impressionable young minds? So be it.

She's leading the group out to the mess hall with a cackle and a gloomy haze seems to settle on her campers.

If the summer keeps up like this, she's thinks it'll be one of the best she's ever had.

 

 

 

The first fire is what really signals the start of camp for the summer (although, Asami thinks that privilege should be held for the numerous amounts of mosquito bites required just by passing the showers), and Tenzin rallies everyone while Lin starts to kindle the wood.

Asami lets her group separate with the flick of her wrist, and they scatter towards the logs closest to the beginning of the flames, mixing from campers from all different cabins.

She takes a seat back on the farthest log, ignores Tenzin's glare as he situates himself with the other advisers, wedged between Bolin's sticky marshmallow fingers and Mako's metal rod, poking the embers to help them glow.

A presence warms itself at her side. The air is a little less humid now that it's out of the sight of day, and she can hear the crickets chirp over the crackle of the now roaring fire.

Asami peeks to her side and sees Korra, slumped forward, chin in the palm of her hand, a pout on her mouth.

Asami raises a brow. "Everything okay?"

Korra's pout curves lower. "I forgot about the whole ' _you'll be basically a guardian to screaming kids all summer_ ' when I signed up for this."

Asami catches herself on a laugh, but it doesn't go unnoticed by Mako, flicking his eyes between she and Korra, a twitch of a frown making its way to his mouth.

"Yeah," Asami says through a breath. "That's the only bad part."

Korra hums and they fall silent under the chatter of the kids, and Bolin stands, with a sticky mouth and marshmallow on his cheek and clears his throat.

Asami knows where this is going; she looks between the leaning bodies and discerns her group of campers, looking between each other with hooded eyes and stiff shoulders.

"If you can survive Bolin's ghost stories," she leans into Korra's shoulder -- Bolin booms _KRAKATOW_  and there's a hushed collective gasp through the crowd -- and Korra gives her attention to Asami with the smallest turn of her head, "then summer will be okay."

Bolin's hunching his shoulders and the light of the fire licks up his jaw and he wiggles his fingers, going _THERE WAS A MAN WHO LIVED IN THE BUSHES, JUST BEYOND OUR WOODS_ , and Opal's buried her smile in her palm from the log beside Lin, and Korra is so lost in the theatrics, over Bolin's _booms_  and _WHACKS!_  and _ooOOOooo spooky scarey stuff_ , that she reaches over, touches Asami's left elbow with the tips of her fingers, and Asami knows she's listening.

"Are they always this..." The fire drowns the blue in Korra's eyes and Asami looks to the grass she rolls under her heel. "...dramatic?"

Asami bites her lip, _hard_ , 'cause she's learned the hard way, interrupting Bolin in the middle of a tale (with honey and feathers all over her pillow case and green dye in the only bottle of shampoo she had), and she has to look away when Bolin almost trips into the fire, saved by Mako grabbing the back pocket of his dirty corduroys. "He takes acting classes." Asami smiles when Korra turns her way. "He likes to pretend he's 'method', but he just looks like a eel-fish out of water more often than not."

Korra cracks with laughter, slams a hand over her mouth when Bolin shoots her one of the _nastiest_  looks Asami's ever seen over the roar of the fire, and all head turn their way and Asami glances over and oh, poor Korra is completely red even under the dark night sky, and Asami whispers, "Sleep with one eye open tonight. Bolin might come after you."

 

 

 

(Asami hears a scream in the middle of the night, when she's curled up with a book on her chest illuminated by the pocket flashlight on her lanyard, the mosquitoes too loud for her to manage sleep, and a vicious cackle of laughter and Bolin's name flying off Korra's tongue, and she laughs softly to herself, turns the page).

 

 

 

The first week rolls by under the simmering heat with barely a complaint (from Asami, at least; Mako had moped around after someone knocked the kayaks off their rack and scuffed the underside of the bellies on three of them).

Korra seemed to be getting the hang of things. She remembers where the mess hall is, now, and she only had flowers for arts and craft’s bookmarks glued in her hair like, twice.

(Asami can't say she had the same luxury her first year).

The skin on Asami's nose is starting to peel, however, and no amount of sunscreen seems to help. Bolin _almost_  got poison ivy, and only three campers out of the hundred cried about being homesick.

All in all, it's been the smoothest first week Asami's had in a few years.

(She hears the murmured chatter of her group of campers in the late nights when they _should_  be asleep, and Asami only stops herself from busting in there once and shutting them down when she catches Jinora saying how much she's starting to like Korra. " _She has, like, really cool stories from back home. Have you heard the one about Raava yet?_ "

Asami's lent up against the door keeping her and the campers apart, toes on the floor, hoping the wood doesn't creek.

" _I wish we had her as our adviser._ " Asami can make out Kai's monotone voice and she frowns. " _Asami won't let us do anything fun. She's so strict. Lights out by nine? I mean, seriously. I bet you she's probably listening to us right now_."

She bangs her fist on the door and hears a loud _thump_  and a quick _shit!_  before the rustle of sheets deafens the entire cabin.)

Korra's seemed to lead the groups at kayaking better than Mako, and Asami's been up half the week at sunset on the hammock of their tree, patting Mako's head while he grumbles and picks at the grass. 

The thunderstorm rolls in by Saturday afternoon, and lieu of more of Bolin's mediocre ghost stories, everyone congregates in the mess hall and Korra's at the front, a flashlight shining on her face as kids raise their hand as ask about Alaska and her life there.

Lightning flashes through the windows, and thunder roars and slams like it wants to break through the ceiling, and over the screams and the _shhh!_ 's and Pema's weak attempts to calm the younger kids down ("It's okay! It's not going to hurt you!"), Asami watches the gentle smile held on Korra's mouth and feels like she's been staring for too long from the back of the room, when another roar of thunder claps and the mess hall is finally silent again.

She scuffs her boot against the wall and waits.

 

 

 

Archery was the one thing that seemed to relax Asami. She took lessons on the weekdays back in Republic city when she wasn't elbow-deep in paperwork or overdue sketches. Her dad's arrest couldn't even sour it for her, and he was the one who signed her up for classes, back when flames still held the singed memories of her mother and Asami hadn't even made it to double digits.

Even teaching it to a bunch of uncoordinated pre-teens couldn't lessen the value it kept to her.

She helps them position, stands behind them and steadies their arms. Some aren't strong enough to shoot an arrow past their toes, and some put too much power into it, flinging arrows past the targets and out of bounds.

They keep complaining that they're never going to be good, or that the wind blew the targets out of place or something, and Asami rolls her eyes and picks up a bow, draws back the string and breathes -- one, two, three in quick succession -- and lets go, lets the arrow ripple through the air and pin the bulls-eye on each target she aims for, for each arrow she unsheathes.

"Years of practice." She hands the bow back to a girl with freckles smattered across her nose, gaping at Asami with wide eyes and a frozen tongue. "No one gets it right away."

She stands back and watches. The kids try to mimic her stance, knees in line and body balanced, and a few hit the targets, and a few make it past one foot, but no one hits a bulls-eye.

There's a clap to her right, and Asami looks over. Korra's standing with a grin as wide as it can be without hurting and eyes bright under the humid air. Asami feels the heat on her palms and she stretches her back.

"That was _crazy_." Korra lets out a low whistle and Asami's skin is a few degrees warmer. "I can't _believe_  how good you are."

Asami sees her chance, smirks. "What? Thought I was too much of a city girl to pick up something like that?"

Korra's cheeks are pink, and her grin turns soft, turns shy, and Asami's chest gives a bit of a flutter against her pulse when Korra dips her chin because like, _oh_. "No, I just never thought the archery program here would _actually_  be good." She straightens quick and the color drains her face, and she almost looks pale, and Asami almost wants to laugh. "No, I-! That's not what I meant!"

But Asami waves her off, rests that hand hand on her hip and says, "No harm, no foul."

Korra takes a while to breathe in something other than stuttering pauses. "Like, okay. When I read online that there was an archery program, I didn't think much of it cause, like, my dad taught me archery when I was a little kid and I was so used to the way he taught my that I never thought someone down here could replicate the fluidity of it all, and like, you're _really good_ , and I just thought that the city wouldn't have anything decent and I'm an _idiot_  because you're _way_  better than decent. Like, far out, and I'm just." She swallows and Asami _prays_  that her face is still holding neutral when she feels a coil of laughter burn in her chest.

Asami raises a brow, tugs her mouth into a teasing smile and says, "They have internet in Alaska?"

Korra's face drops and _god_ , Asami wants to laugh.

"Har har." Korra's gone from coy to embarrassed to _done_  and Asami marvels at the quick pace-change in her expressions.

"I've taken lessons since I was about this high." She motions with a hand to her waist. "It was... a nice escape for me at the time. And I just carried it on after that."

Korra leans into the muggy air when the wind blows through, lifts the hair on her shoulders, and she frowns a bit, but doesn't ask.

The trumpet horn blares over the speaker system and the whole group, even Asami and Korra, cringe when Lin's voice scratches at their ears and announces lunch.

The kids drop their bows and Asami frowns and yells about cleaning up after themselves, but they're out of ear shot but Korra's still around, and she moves with Asami to collect all the fallen arrows without being asked.

(They're the last ones in the mess hall, so they're at the end of the line, but Asami doesn't care. She can see the skin on Korra's shoulders move, stretching the dusted freckles near her neck when she motions through the technique she learned from her father when she was waist high, too. Just like Asami).

 

 

 

Pema's trying to wipe off the counter, but Bolin's butt is in the way; he's sitting right on the middle of it, shoving bits of carrot into his mouth like he's been starved all his life.

Asami and Opal hang back on the opposite wall with matching looks of only mild disgust.

Pema's starting to lose her patience, and if Asami can see the twitch in her brow then it must be _screaming_  at Bolin. But, he's still cramming carrots in his mouth and spitting it back all over the place when he tries to speak.

"Bolin, sweetie." Pema starts tapping her foot. "Would you mind taking your.." she glances at his mouth, covered in carrot bits and saliva. "...chewing over to one of the tables? I need to finish cleaning."

"Ohb," comes his response. "Am I ib da wey?"

Pema gives him a gracious, ever-so-patient smile. "Yes, you are."

He slobbers down his chin when he hops off the counter and Asami looks away before she gags, but poor Opal hadn't moved quick enough, and she's groaning into her palm when the three of them move to one of the tables outside of the kitchen.

Bolin swallows and it _sounds_  painful. He chokes on a bit of carrot and says, "I can't believe it's already been two weeks."

Opal's still looking at him with a grimace. "Me neither," she says. "It went by so fast."

"The first camping trip is only a few days from now." Asami looks to the window and sees nothing but cloudless blue. "I hope it doesn't rain."

Bolin finds a bit of carrot on his shirt and flicks it aside; it lands on Opal's forearm and she gags. "It's supposed to be nothing but clear skies the rest of the week." He pulls a big grin. "All sunshine and the great outdoors."

Asami hums but keeps her eyes on the window.

Opal's finally picked herself back up from the carrot-thing and she nudges Bolin in the side when Korra and Mako appear in the window Asami's looking out of, the two of them only looking _sort of_  uncomfortable having to walk back up from the docks together. Bolin glances at Opal from the corner of his eyes and she nods towards Asami, and his grin is mischievous.

" _Soooooo_." He rests his chin on his knuckles and wraps his free hand against the table. "Korra seems to be liking it here, huh?"

Asami barely turns her head to look at him. "Unless you're seeing something different than I am, currently."

"Putting Mako and his broody dudeliness aside for now," Bolin starts, "she's had fun over the last two weeks."

"She _does_  like kayaking." Asami smiles against the calloused edge of her palm. "To be fair, I think she gets a kick out of making Mako look bad."

"But other than that," Opal chimes in, and she wears a smile as sweet and as innocent as can be when Asami turns to her with leveled eyes. "She likes it here? Likes everyone?"

Bolin and Opal are grinning like fools, lent up against each other and directing everything they have Asami's way, and her face falls into a glower. "No."

"What?" Bolin bats his eyes.

"I mean, _no_. I know exactly what you're thinking." Her mouth is starting to hurt from her frown. "You gave me those same looks when I was sixteen and Mako was all I could think about."

"So, does that mean Korra is all you can think about, then?" Opal leans closer towards the edge of the table and Asami does _not_  appreciate the way she's smiling at her. "Twenty two and looking for romance?"

"I'm going to smack you _both_  into-"

"Whatever the three of you are up to," Lin's voice barks like gravel from the door way, "Or, rather, _not_  up to, as you seem to be lazing around when you _should_  be working."

Opal says, "My group is with my mom at yoga!" while Bolin says, "Mine are at the craft hut with Yin!", and Asami just shrugs and says, "Mine are somewhere."

"Get back to work!" Lin slams her clipboard down onto the table in front of her and the three jump to their feet and zip towards the nearest exit.

 

 

 

Su and Lin are leading the pack of fifty girls through the mountainside while Asami and Korra and Opal lead up the back; Opal and Asami are leaning into each other, trying to catch their breath, for moral support maybe, but Korra takes each incline and strides over each root without so much as looking _winded_ , and Asami is annoyed.

They're still a good mile or two walk from the campsite and she doesn't think her legs will make it that long. She may as well have switched out her bones for gelatin.

(At least the campers are struggling just as much as she is).

The trees are alive with sounds, from the squawk of a bird to the scratching of bark from a squirrel, and the low hum of the ever-present mosquitoes is still buzzing in Asami's ears. She feels a tickle at her neck that could be a bug or just sweat, so she swats at it for good measure.

They reach level ground but they're not there yet, and Opal just about collapses into Asami, and her momentum forces Asami to crash into Korra's back.

Her nose hurts and her cheeks are warm and shy, and she picks herself up from Korra and shoves Opal off her shoulder.

Korra looks to her in worry, but Asami waves her off with an _i'm fine_ , and it's harder to breathe up in the mountains in the sweltering heat.

Lin calls for a five minute break and the collection of gasps of relief almost sounds like a symphony. Asami trudges away from the group a little bit and moves towards the edge of the cliff, hanging her feet off the side and flicking pebbles by her fingertips, watching them tumble down as far as her eyesight wills.

She hears the shuffle of dirt and then Korra is beside her, a little flushed from the hike but breathing even, and Asami can see the rise of new freckles on the bridge of her nose from how close she's sitting.

"It's so pretty up here." Korra eyes the clouds low enough that they dance against the tree tops. "It's so green and warm and _alive_."

Asami smiles, leans back into her hands. "It really is a sight," she says. "It makes me miss Republic City."

Korra turns to her with a confused frown. "Really? I was thinking it would make you feel the opposite."

"I'm a city girl at heart." Asami adjusts her hand so rocks aren't digging into her skin. "The trees remind me of the sky scrapers. And it's a lot quieter here. Sometimes I can't think with the absence of all the noise."

Korra nods and hums quietly to herself.

"Don't get me wrong, out here, it's _gorgeous_ , and I do get a chance to fool around with shooting arrows as much as I want, but everything seems so..." she frowns, searching for the word. "Still."

"Still?" Korra leans back on her hands, mimicking Asami's position.

"Like." Asami licks her lips. "Like- when you've grown up in a place where the neutral setting is a constant _rush_ , everything else just feels abnormal."

Korra seems to smile. "I get it."

Asami smiles back. "Good, because I'm sorta lost on how to explain it any further."

Korra breathes through a laugh. "I like the warmth here," she says. "Not the _literal_ warmth – although, that's kinda nice. I mean the people."

Asami regards her quietly. "Oh?"

"I may not know any of you really well yet, and I've only been three weeks, but." She sighs, sinks into it. "You guys seem tight knit. Close. In a familial sort of way. Like, you made your own family here."

Asami's chest feels light, feels heavy, too, all at once, when Korra smiles into the breeze that rolls over her shoulders.

"We've all been here ever since we were kids." Asami feels a break somewhere. "Me the longest."

Korra turns to her and Lin calls for everyone to stand, and Asami's closing back up to the sound of crunching dirt underneath feet, but Korra's eyes are patient, are open, are kind, and Lin grumbles something about leaving the two of them behind when Asami says, "This used to be my family's vacation spot."

But Lin is really starting to get impatient, and Asami feels like the earth is shifting under the incessant stomping of Lin's foot, so she scoots back from the edge and stands, holds a hand out to a puzzled Korra and says, "Later."

They make it to the campsite just when the sky is bright orange and the sun is a hazy yellow over the peaks of far off mountains, and everyone immediately pairs off and sets up a tent, resulting in only a few minor zipper injuries and whacks to the head with uncooperative bendy metal bits. Lin has a campfire ready by dusk and some girls choose to retire for the night, leaving half to settle around the fire as the night begins to chill from their altitude.

Korra's making smores, and she hands one to Asami with a smile, and Asami takes it and bites into the gooey mesh, and Korra laughs when it turns into sticky clumps against Asami's mouth. She hands Opal one, too, and gives her a friendly smile before moving down the line, and Asami _wishes_  she could roll her eyes at the look Opal gives her, but Lin is watching everyone like a hawk, alert to any mishaps or off-steps that could put them at risk to the wildlife they're trying not to disturb.

Su tells the remaining girls about all the activities planned that they'll be doing tomorrow, ("Like fishing! Doesn't that sound fun?"), and snuffs the fire when it's just the five advisers remaining awake, and retires to her tent with Lin not far behind. Opal yawns into her palm when she gets bored of listening to Korra and Asami's whispered conversation between the two of them and finds her tent in the darkness.

Asami tries muting her giggles by covering her mouth with her hand. " _No way!_ " She squares her shoulders. "A turtleduck would _so_ beat a penguin in a fight."

Korra scoffs into the silence accompanied by crickets. "False. Completely based on body mass alone, a penguin would _crush_  a turtleduck. Easily. And, probably literally."

Asami rolls her eyes. " _Disregarding_  body mass entirely, a turtleduck could chomp down on a penguin and _totally_  win. Have you ever been bitten by a turtleduck?"

Korra humors her: "Can't say I have."

"I don't recommend it."

Korra laughs and pulls out a bag of trail mix from the knapsack resting at her knees, offering some to Asami. She takes a handful and shoves it into her still-grinning mouth.

Korra's munching down onto a couple of cashews and raisins when she asks: "How come your family didn't keep this place to yourselves?"

A piece of an almond lodges itself into Asami's throat and she coughs, and Korra eyes go wide and she panics, swings her fist against Asami's back and, _ow_ , and Asami raises a hand for Korra to stop moving when she catches Korra cocking her arm back again.

She swallows and her throat is so _dry_.

"For a lot of reasons." Asami's voice is hoarse. "My dad left it to me and I sold it to Tenzin and his family when I was sixteen."

" _Sixteen?_ "

"Well, actually, I gave it to Tenzin for practically _nothing_ , but." She flicks her wrist. "The legalities of it all, or whatever."

Korra takes Asami's wrist between her thumb and forefinger and smooths her thumb over Asami's pulse. "I'm going to need you to back up like, several sentences." She frowns in the gentle moonlight. "Sixteen? Left it for you? Asami, what-"

"My father and I have a complicated... relationship." Asami can feel herself frowning, too. "He gave me a lot of things, and left me with too much without any guidance."

Korra scoots closer to her in the dirt. "What do you mean?"

Asami's eyes feel hot but the air around her shoulders is rapidly cooling. "I just. I have a lot on my plate when it comes to him."

There's an absence on her wrist, but then Korra tucks Asami into her side, hesitates to rest her cheek on Asami's head, and when she finally does, she lets out an awkward, belated breath.

"If it's too much for you," Korra says, and Asami can feel her chest expand against the press of her bicep. "Like, right now, you don't have to say it."

 

 

 

Asami is grateful, and her past is muddy and mucked and hard to walk through sometimes, even for herself, but Korra is patient and kind and Asami thinks about how big of a heart she's got under the thin layer of her skin.

"Some other time, then?" Asami whispers against the rising stars peeking through the tree tops, over the hum of the creatures in the woods just beyond them, hidden within the bark of the trees.

Korra gives her shoulder a small squeeze, and the remnants of the embers in the fire pit give enough glow for Asami to see the line of Korra's jaw and cheekbones, and the flicker of blue eyes find her's, and Asami wants to move closer, does so when Korra's arm moves from her shoulder to her waist, and she says back, "Some other time."

Snores from inside the tents shadow over the buzz from the forest.

 

 

 

Asami would have expected Korra to be really good at fishing; at least, collecting evidence from all the stories she's heard _should_ have lead her to that conclusion.

But it turns out Korra doesn't exactly know how to handle the finishing rod without the hook on the end getting stuck in her clothing somewhere.

Asami's had to free the hook from Korra's pants twice, and Korra almost ended up with a hole in her lip when she swung back, but not quick enough; Asami wonders why Korra hasn't just given up yet when she manages to completely tangle herself in the fishing line and at least half of their camp group is staring at her.

She's resilient; Asami will give her that much.

Asami steps forward closer towards the riverbank, and she can feel the grass itching at her ankles. She places a hand on Korra's shoulder and says, "Be patient," and Korra takes a deep breath and untangles the line from strands of her hair.

She leans back into her shoulders, the rod between her fists, and she swings forward, lets go, and the bait and tackle dip a few meters out into the river, and Korra smiles.

"I did it it!" She beams at Asami, and Asami beams back.

(Asami can _feel_ the eye-roll Opal's giving them from over her shoulder.)

Korra doesn't end up catching any fish, and she glowers at Asami when she catches three, and Su tells everyone to start packing up when Korra wants to give it another go.

She sulks on the trail through the woods, so Asami leans a hand into the small of Korra's back when they step over a root.

Their camping trip ends up being cut short when Lin spots the first signs of an oncoming thunderstorm, the skies a threatening rumble of gray, and when they're an hour into the hike back, it begins to pour.

The rain sloshes into mud on Asami's calves, and her hair clings to every broad sweep of her shoulders. She's tried tying it back, but it's too heavy for the worn rubber band she's been using for the past few weeks, and it ends up snapping when they're down the middle of a hill.

Korra's at her side, covering the two of them with as much space as her windbreaker jacket will create, but Asami's still soaked from the collarbone down when they're only a few minutes away from the main campground.

Everyone's rushed inside the mess hall, and Tenzin and Kya start handing out blankets to whomever's shivering the most, but they're running out of extras by the time Bumi's group makes it back, Bolin and Mako looking worse for wear and their campers looking sickly and drenched.

Pema's making some kind of soup in the kitchen, which Asami tries to help with as much as she can while her fingers are still shaking. She's chopping up kale and almost slices into her finger; she nicks the skin but there's only a little bit of blood.

Asami's shifting through the cabinets looking for a band-aid when Korra marches in, a blanket wrapped over her shoulders.

"Do we have any hot chocolate?" Korra manages through her chattering teeth. "The kids wants some."

Pema looks at her sadly. "It's a summer camp, and I'm afraid what little we do have won't be enough."

Korra catches Asami's eye as she's wrapping up her finger and they go wide, but Asami sends her a gentle smile, mouths _i'm okay_ , but Korra doesn't really give Pema back her full attention, her position angled in Asami's gravity as Asami moves closer.

"How far to the nearest store?" Korra asks. "I can run and get some."

"About twenty miles," Pema says, looking down into the giant pot on the stove.

"It's dangerous to drive right now," Asami warns, but she's already moving towards the exit. The keys to Tenzin's pick-up are in the main office.

Pema nods when Asami opens the door, and Korra comes rushing up behind her, discarding the blanket onto the nearest counter.

Asami blinks. Korra leans into her air. "What are you doing?"

"I'm coming with you." And Korra's shoved her way through the exit, slipping through the mud before Asami has a chance to get her breath back.

(Korra's still shivering when they're five minutes up the road, and Asami blasts the heat, deciding that a joke on the climate not weighing in Korra's favor is in poor taste when her shoulders look so small.

Asami puts her thumb against Korra's wrist where it rests on the console between them and feels Korra's pulse beat back, steady and warm and strong.)

 

 

 

It's a month into summer and the heat still hasn't died down, but at least the water's cool enough.

The river swells with campers and counselors alike, but everyone is within earshot, within eyesight, and Tenzin is sitting on the docks with Bumi and Kya, so if anything should happen, Asami knows they're on the ready.

She's content with lazy circles, lounging in an inflatable duck raft while campers splash around her. She's already had to lift her sunglasses and stare at those who've threatened to knock her over. They usually cower away after three seconds.

A gentle weight bobs the corner of the raft down, dips Asami's toes in the water. She lifts her sunglasses with a frown, but Korra's chin is right next to her ankle and her smile is crooked, so Asami's mouth turns a smidge softer.

"If you dunk me," Asami warns, "you won't live to see tomorrow."

Korra laughs and it moves in gentle ripples off her submerged chest. 

"No dunking." She salutes Asami with a grin. "Scouts honor."

Asami snorts so hard she almost knocks herself over.

"Just came to see what you were up to." Korra's feet kick them slowly through the river.

"Avoiding being splashed, is all." Asami eyes Bolin as he slams Mako into the river from off the dock. 

"Do you not like water?"

"I like it when it's calm," Asami says, "and not full of rowdy teenagers."

Korra rolls her eyes and mumbles, _live a little_ , before the edge of her blue eyes disappear under the surface and then she's gone.

Asami sits up in her raft and looks all around, but she can't seem to find Korra at all. "Korra?"

Something presses underneath her from between her legs, and the edge of her raft lifts from the water. "Korra! _I swear to God_ -"

" _RELEASE THE KRAKEN!_ " is all Asami hears over her shriek, and she's in the water before she can take a solid breath.

Bubbles shift all around her eyes, and when she moves her hands, more seem to come, and she notices a jostle of water and bubbles not too far from her own feet, and she lunges, grabs at Korra's bare legs and drags her under the river's surface with her.

Korra's shoving and shoving at Asami's shoulders, but Asami's fingers sink into the skin at Korra's hips. Korra's legs are kicking and jolting underneath her, rubbing the underside of Asami's belly.

They slip just _too close_ and heat throbs down from Asami's face to the apex of her thighs, and when Asami forgets that gasping shouldn't happen under water, she rises from the river choking and sputtering, feeling like her lungs are drowning.

"Asami!" Korra has a hand on her back and she's moving the two of them to the opposite end of the river bank, away from Tenzin and the others, but Asami can barely hear anyone calling her name over her own ears flooding with heat.

Asami can feel grass tickle her back and her shoulders, can feel a hand on her hip and hair skimming the tip of her nose, the red from the sun above her eyelids shadowed and turning dark.

She blinks her eyes open with the last cough, and Korra's leaning above her, mouth parted as she swallows down air, chest heaving. Her legs are straddling Asami's, and Asami's face _burns_.

"I said no dunking," Asami groans hoarsely. Her throat scratches against itself and her mouth feels raw and salty, and Korra lets out a little sigh, her body sinking down lower. Asami bites down on a gasp when their hips brush.

Korra's eyes are wide and scared and apologetic and so, _so_ blue, that Asami almost forgets that's she's mad.

"I'm so sorry!" Korra rushes out. "I didn't think you'd actually almost _drown_."

Asami's throat is too tight, and the heat on her chest is too much, that she opts out of a response and rolls out from underneath Korra, barely holds back a squeak when their thighs slip together when she stands.

"It's fine," she says, moving back towards the river, where Mako's paddling over on a floating pool noodle. "It's whatever."

"Asami, I'm-"

"I said it's _fine_." She bites down on her cheek when Korra's face falls.

Mako helps curl the pool noodle under Asami's arms and they float together back over the river's surface, and when Asami's lifted back onto the dock by Bumi's hands, she peeks over her shoulder and sees that Korra's still sitting on the other side, with Opal and Bolin, now, with both of them having a hand on her shoulders.

Asami tells herself that her chest should not be this tight when Pema comes and wraps a towel around her shoulders.

 

 

 

(They're pressed shoulder to shoulder in the hammock, Asami tucked under Mako's chin as she listens to the steady thump of his pulse inside his chest, the sun just beginning to peak over the far off horizon.

"You know she likes you, right?" Mako's chest rumbles as he speaks, and Asami closes her eyes against the vibrations."

"Who?" she asks, but she knows, and so does Mako, and he gives her a look that borders with a frown.

"Do you like her, too?" He brings a hand to Asami's shoulder and tucks her in closer.

"I thought you did?" Asami picks at a piece of fuzz on Mako's collar.

"She made it _very_ clear on the first day that she wasn't interested." He frowns into the sunrise. "And several times afterwards."

"She lives in Alaska."

"You still have the rest of the summer."

" _Alaska_ , Mako."

He sighs. "You know, she's been wandering around like a kicked puppy since yesterday."

Asami pinches too hard and Mako jerks away from her hand. "Good."

"I know you don't mean that."

Asami's being petty, but she hates how well he knows her, hates that Mako can see through her skin sometimes, hates how gentle and calm he is when all her senses are on override and it's too much for her to breathe sometimes.

"You still have two months left." The birds start chirping with life in the trees around them. "You can make them count if you try.")

 

 

 

It's Asami's mother's birthday and the camp grounds are quiet.

Tenzin has called for everyone to say indoors for activities, and most of the camp is congregated into the mess hall to watch some old movers Bolin packed for this day specifically.

They all know the day when Asami wants to sit in silence and just _miss_ the mother whose arms left her too soon.

She hasn't spoken much to Korra since the other day. And she would like to apologize for being brash and prickled but there's a hole too big in her chest to so much as move from under the blankets, and she misses her mother and she misses Korra, too, with her comforting silent support and crooked smiles and warm hands and big heart.

Her eyes feel hot and heavy when she hears the door of her cabin creak open from the other room.

The footsteps are quick and small, and Ikki comes thundering into Asami's room without asking, but she has a big smile on her face and her hair is braided into pigtails on her shoulders, and Asami can't find it in herself to be mad.

"Hi, 'Sami!" Ikki strolls over and sits on the edge of Asami's bed. "Daddy told me not to bother you because you're sad today, but he's old and no one likes listening to old people."

Asami muffles her broken laughter into her blankets. "Yeah, old people suck."

"But when I'm sad I like to color, so I thought that maybe we could draw some pictures before Daddy starts looking for me."

She holds out a coloring book and a pack of crayons and despite how tempting Asami's mattress is to bury her sorrows within, she shifts and sits up against her pillows, patting the space next to her for Ikki to settle into, takes the book and crayons into her lap and says, "I'd quite like that, I think."

Asami's coloring in the picture of a princess in blue and gold and brown, and Ikki's forgone the actual blank drawings on the book and started a picture of her own on the back of one sheet, her tongue poking out of her mouth in concentration.

It only takes a half hour before there's a knock on the cabin's door, and Tenzin's voice follows with, "Ikki, I _know_ you're in there."

"Monkey feathers," Ikki grumbles into her coloring book. She swings her legs over the side of Asami's bed with a sigh, collects the crayons and the coloring book Asami hands back to her, but pauses at the door and rips out the sheet of paper she had been scribbling on. "I drew you a picture."

Asami's heart swells.

She waits until Ikki and Tenzin have gone before she looks.

She wants both to laugh and to cry.

It's a picture of Asami (well, more like a big red scribble with black hair and something akin to arms and legs with an arrow and her name pointing to it) standing in a field underneath a sun with sunglasses on and a smile.

There's a smaller, blue-r blob holding Asami's hand next to her, and a gray blob next to the blue with _Naga_ written next to an arrow; Korra's dog.

Korra's name was written in black with the an arrow pointing to the blue blob and Asami runs her finger over it, wonders if she was _that_ obvious, smiles to herself. Whatever Ikki could see between the two of them was warranted enough that Asami had a picture of herself drawn with Korra and her _dog_ , which probably speaks volumes in kid-language

Asami looks at the picture a little longer and she _really_ misses her mom.

(It should scare her that she misses Korra in much the same volume, even though she's always a few feet away.)

Night falls and Asami moves to the archery station when most of the camp is asleep. It's empty and the bow feels strong in her hand, and she feels like wind when the arrow soars from her fingertips and lands straight in the middle of the bulls-eye.

She doesn't know how long she's out there, but it's been long enough that the mosquitoes have quieted some, and the stars are at their brightest peak.

She shoots another arrow and hears crunching footsteps.

Asami turns and sees the half of Korra not shrouded in a hesitant darkness, her hand flexed at her side, worry pinching at her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry," Korra says, taking a step back. "I couldn't sleep so I took a walk and I heard noises and-"

" _I'm_ sorry, Korra." Asami leans to put her bow in the grass. "For the other day, I over reacted-"

"I almost _drowned_ you-"

"I told you it was okay-"

"You didn't _look_ okay, and I've been beating myself up over it for the last-"

"I wish you wouldn't do that-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

" _Stop apologizing_." Asami lets out a brief laugh. "Korra, it's _okay_."

Korra's shoulders relax.

"Are _you_ okay?" Korra points to the smattering of arrows all over the place. "How long have you been out here?"

Asami doesn't need to look where Korra's pointing, but she does, because Korra's eyes are almost too blue. "I was just thinking."

"What about?"

Asami turns, and Korra's there, patient and kind and understanding and _waiting_ , waiting for Asami to pull herself together and wipe the dried tears off her cheek, just waiting for Asami in general.

Korra's hands are already held out towards her when Asami steps closer and says, "Can it be some other time, now?"

They move to the hammock under Mako and Asami's tree, and Asami thinks she should starting just calling it _her_ tree, since both Korra and Mako fit so well underneath her chin here.

Korra's breathing in fluttered pauses against Asami's collar, and she's so _warm_ , and fireflies start blinking just beyond Asami's reach, bringing the stars even closer.

"It's my mom's birthday," Asami murmurs against the crown of Korra's head. Korra nods against her chest.

"That's when Tenzin told me."

"She died when I was seven." Asami blinks back the heat brimming in her eyes, and Korra grips at her waist tighter. "I was sleeping in my room when my parents were entertaining guests at a party downstairs, and someone was smoking a cigarette too close to the back door and they didn't snub it out when they left, and-"

Asami's throat closes up. Korra leans and presses her mouth on Asami's jaw and there's a contrast in the flutter in Asami's heartbeat with the night shrouding her aching limbs.

"My dad was never the same, and we stopped taking family vacations here. I came alone with my friends from the city – Mako and Bolin – and when I was sixteen, my father got arrested." Asami clenches her jaw but Korra's lips are still there. "Embezzling and fraud. And he just left me so much. He left me this place, and he left me his company, and-"

"Asami _Sato_?" Korra pulls away from Asami's cheek, and she can only stare for a few moments before her mouth parts in a shy smile. "I never put two and two together and like, _wow_. You've got a big name resting on your shoulders."

Asami smiles, but it's sad because she knows that, and so does Korra, but she applies a gentle stroke against Asami's cheek with the pad of her thumb and says, "If it makes you feel any better, I don't know how to drive."

Asami laughs, and it's bright and loud and surprising, and it makes her laugh even more when Korra's warm cheeks bury themselves against her chest.

Asami smooths down Korra's hair, lets it tangle through her fingers. "I like coming here every summer," Asami continues. "I can put the business on hold and just- just not _care_ for three months. And I'd rather be spending my mother's birthday in a place she used to love than covered in oil in a factory surrounded by welding sparks and people barking demands down my neck."

Korra grips the fabric of Asami's sweatshirt in her fist and says, "I'm glad it's easier down here for you."

She lifts her head and Asami watches how slow her mouth moves, how it parts to allow the subtle brush of Korra's tongue against her lips, how it blurs from her vision when Korra leans in close, presses a kiss to the corner of Asami's mouth.

"You help me forget." Asami holds Korra close while she presses gentle kisses all across Asami's cheek. "You make it easier down here for me, too."


	2. waiting on love to call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite all parts of her being sending alarming and strong signals to just do it, Asami doesn't kiss Korra just yet. She allows to Korra to fiddle more with her hair, because it felt so nice just to be touched and feel warmth from it, a different feeling than the being-kissed-feeling.
> 
> (She figures she'll most definitely like the Korra-kissing-her-feeling the most, so she wants to save the best for last).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello hello hello have i ever mentioned that i am an awful person
> 
> i literally kept you guys waiting for a //year// who let me do this i blame everyone else but myself, frankly.
> 
> (no im kidding im seriously terrible i feel so bad)
> 
> i haven't written anything in almost a year (creatively, at least) and holy crap, did this feel good. i rewatched camp takota for the 500th time and finally sat down and this came out of my fingers/hands/brain capsule so HERE WE ARE NOW!!!! the second and final installment of this work of fiction that //should not// have taken me a year to complete
> 
> have i mentioned that i'm a moron? and that i'm so extremely sorry?
> 
> please, please, please forgive me and please enjoy this!!!!! i worked very hard not to disappoint you guys and honestly i should be studying for my College Degree but, korrasami.
> 
> (disclaimer: i have literally never been to summer camp and am basing all my knowledge of summer camp off of camp takota, my [barely existant] reseach, and my imagination)

_morning’s a new bird_  
_stirring against me_  
_out of a quiet nest,_  
_coming to flight—_  
  
_quick-changing,_  
_slow-nodding,_  
_breath-filling body,_  
  
_life-holding,_  
_waiting,_  
_clean as clear water,_  
  
_warmth-given,_  
_fire-driven_  
_kindling companion,_  
  
_mystery and mountain,_  
_dark-rooted,_  
_earth-anchored._

\- love in the morning | annie finch

 

* * *

 

The birds above their heads' chirp to life with morning song, and Asami's eyes peek open. The sky is still an early shade of purple, the sun not even having risen for the day's beginning. She blinks once, twice, just to make sure she's really awake, and rubs at the woven indents left behind by the hammock rope, her cheeks raw and itchy as she traces a thumb over the lines against her skin.

Her eyes too bleary yet to register the world around her, Asami almost misses the heavy weight cradled against her ribcage; soft puffs of breath along her collar and a fist bunching the fabric of her sweatshirt draw her attention down, and Korra stirs, but doesn't awaken – only pulls Asami closer to her side, though there is little space left between the two on the hammock, anyway.

Asami's cheeks, both indented and not, warm red.

In the morning summer glow, Asami tucks Korra closer to her chest, checks her watch, and enjoys her last half hour of silence, allowing nature to greet her with warmth from the beginnings of oncoming summer heat.

 

 

 

All but two campers opt out of archery to observe Lin's lecture by the pit on what berries are edible and which will kill you with the _swiftness of a cobra critter's venom_ , which Asami happens to overhear as she dismisses those two campers in order to sit in on kayaking.

(To be fair, she had overhead Bolin yesterday in the mess hall saying that Korra had challenged Mako to a race, and that was something she really did _not_ want to miss).

She leans against her tree to remove her sneakers and socks, to feel the cool grass against the too warm soles of her feet, and from over the grassy hill she sees almost twenty campers, presumably Korra's and Mako's groups, sitting against the shoreline, or hanging from the wooden dock, all their attention aimed towards the river.

A smile tugs the corners of Asami's mouth upwards.

She treads carefully along the dock, eyes committed to looking out for splinters, and Jinora sees her coming, scoots over from the middle and allows Asami to drop quietly down next to her, Asami's toes skimming the river's surface.

Korra and Mako are knee-deep in the river, pushing their kayaks out further into the current, determination hung on both of their shoulders. The campers cheer, and both of them turn around; when Korra's eyes find Asami's, her grin widens into a beam, and she shifts faster against the water that pushes back against her limbs, egging Mako to pick up his pace.

“Are they really racing?” Asami asks Jinora, already knowing the answer.

This, Jinora seems to sense, and instead she leans farther towards the edge, and says, “My money's on Mako.”

Asami looks down to her left where Jinora faces out towards the water, a brow raised.

Jinora's mouth pulls into a smirk. “Sorry, but your girlfriend is no match for Mako. He's been doing this for years.”

Asami's cheeks _burn_ , worse than sunburn, and she murmurs _ye of little faith_ through an almost absent smile.

From her peripheral, Asami sees a camper trample his way against the current, facing Korra and Mako, a whistle dangling from his teeth. His arms raise in the air as the two clamber into their kayaks, exchanging challenging looks.

The boy blows a deafening amount of air into his whistle, sending Korra and Mako shooting down the riverbank, towards an inflatable turtleduck held in place by ropes with rocks tied to the ends.

The whistle blow attracts the rest of the camp, including the remaining campers, Tenzin, Pema, and Lin, who takes a rather amused stance as she watches the two struggle down the current.

Combative chants of _Ma-ko! Ma-ko!_ and _Kor-ra! Kor-ra!_ echo heavy along the shoreline, no doubt projecting loud enough for the next town over to hear of the shenanigans happening down at Sato Estates.

Asami's smile curves around the way she chants Korra's name, and Korra makes out Asami's voice in the roar of the rest, and sends a triumphant smirk Asami's way as she rounds the turtleduck first, Mako just two rows behind Korra's hull.

The race is coming to a close, and the cheering along the riverbank has grown rowdy and enthusiastic – a chorale more enthusiastic than Asami's ever heard – and the boy with the whistle holds his hands out for Korra or Mako to high five as they row closer and closer to the finish.

With a broad reach of her arm, Korra touches the boy's hand with outstretched fingers, catching him just before Mako can, the boy's left arm raising to signal Korra's win.

Half the crowd celebrates, Asami included, while the other half boos, Jinora included here.

Korra shakes her fists in the air from the kayak, too busy congratulating herself to notice Mako sneaking up behind her, and he jolts her from her kayak and sends her tumbling into the river.

From some reason, this prompts the campers to run from the shore into the river, or splash in from where they stand on the dock. Asami has to stand in order to keep herself from being knocked over.

Korra's head bobs to the surface, and she sends Asami the brightest grin, brighter than the blazing, afternoon sun.

So, Asami sheds her jacket and lanyard, launches herself from the dock in order to cannonball right next to Korra's head.

 

 

 

The rest of the week slips by, and Asami barely remembers Monday turning into Tuesday, and suddenly it's Friday night once more, and all five young counselors found themselves slipping away to the far off cabin once again, beer and scotch and whiskey awaiting them in the fridge.

Mako's sat on the counter, tucked away in his phone – this seems to be the only place he can get decent reception – texting away, and Bolin twirls Opal to a song that doesn't sound like a song to be twirled to, and Asami sneaks Korra and a six pack out the back door and up a hill.

They giggle and mumble to each other, like the personification of secrets shared as they scale up the hillside almost on all fours, buzzed from the whiskey and coke that they shared and sipped on.

Asami takes Korra's hand in her own, and she's not sure who's palms are the clammy ones, and leads the two across the grass and between the trees for a few hundred feet through the quieting forest.

They come to a stop at the lip of a small valley, and the moon is so bright and the night sky is so clear and the stars are telling their story, uninhibited by the camp's light posts that rim the edges of the pathways.

Korra takes it all in as they sit side by side, backs against a large rock half buried in the drying soil. Asami twists the tops off two beers, hands one to Korra, and they clink the necks of the bottles together and lean into the stone.

Korra's fingers find Asami's through the tall, unkempt grass.

“Wow,” Korra's eyes keep themselves on the expanse of stars as she sighs into her beer, a small ringing noise rising from the bottle. Korra startles at the noise, and Asami bites down on a smile.

Regaining her composure, Korra allows the stars to take her gaze, thumb pressing down onto Asami's ring finger.

The silence that shrouds them isn't unpleasant, but it's teeming with something Asami can't quite pin down. Deciding not to budge in on the unspoken _whatever_ between them, she takes a slow sip from her beer and points up at the sky. “Cassiopeia is my favorite constellation.”

Korra brushes her thumb down to Asami's knuckles. “Why is that?”

Asami shrugs, enjoying the gentle heat from Korra's touch. “I like her story.”

“Didn't she sacrifice her own daughter? Or, like, try to?”

Asami smiles around the lip of her beer. “Yes, but she was beautiful, and she knew it, and I like that.”

Korra rolls her head against the boulder so her nose almost brushed Asami's cheek. Her warm breath bristles the hair on the back of Asami's neck.

Asami swallows the beer – and the forming lump – in her throat, nodding towards the sky. “Do you have a favorite constellation?”

Korra doesn't answer immediately; she drinks in Asami's skin, fairer in the reflection of the moonlight, the stars actually visible in her eyes, clear as as night. After a few moments, she turns back towards the sky, but pulls Asami's hand into her lap and presses their shoulders against one another, laying Asami's palm flat against her thigh; Korra traces the creases in Asami's skin with the tips of her fingers, more gentle than a feather.

“Delphinus,” Korra says, nodding in agreement with herself.

Asami takes to mocking Korra's tone from earlier: “And why is that?”

“I like dolphins.”

They dissolve into a fit of quiet, shared laughter, and when Asami opens her eyes, wipes the tears from the creases, Korra's face is _right there_ , and more importantly, so is her mouth, parted slightly.

Asami's hand rises from the grass to cup Korra's cheek, her thumb tracing Korra's bottom lip, slipping forward only just a smallest bit between Korra's parted lips.

“God.” Asami heaves a sigh, eyes and thumb still on Korra's mouth. “I want to kiss you so – so _fucking_ badly.”

“Do it.” Korra says it like a challenge, her eyes burning a line straight towards Asami's mouth. “Kiss me. I dare you.”

Her bones shake, and her wrist trembles, and Asami stays silent until Korra touches her forearm with the tips of her fingers, and the shaking travels down to Asami's hipbones.

“What's stopping you?” Korra sounds smaller, almost – insecure, unsure.

Asami's thumb stops it tracing motion, but it doesn't leave Korra's lips. “Alaska.” It takes every nerve, every ounce of herself in order to shut her eyes. “You live in Alaska.”

“ _Lived_ ,” Korra corrects gently, and Asami's snap open wide. “I _lived_ in Alaska.”

Mouth open, Asami struggles for words – or even a single word, or a singular form of one.

“Wha- I don't- I'm-” Asami stops short, swallows, tries again. “What do you mean _lived_? Like, past tense?”

Korra has an almost unnoticeable smile, and she curls her hand around the back of Asami's neck, tugging on loose strands of hair that have fallen loose from Asami's bun. She pulls them closer – somehow there was space between them, still, and Asami can't exhale without knowing if it's Korra's breath or her own that hits her chin – and tips her forehead against Asami's, her nose high enough to rest over Asami's.

“Lived, like, past tense.” Korra closes her eyes as her smile grows. “Republic City, surprisingly, has a shortage of elementary school gym coaches.”

Something – Asami can't quite name, nor does she want to – pounds against her chest, against her ribs, makes her heart feel like it glows.

“This summer camp is sort of, like, a provisional period for me,” Korra continues, rubbing circles with her thumb against the muscles straining in Asami's neck. “Tenzin has to fill out a letter of recommendation, or a form, or like – something,” she bites down on a giggle. “I can't remember. But basically, they want to see if can handle myself well here, since this would be my first time teaching on my own and not as a student, and if I do well here and if I get positive reinforcement from Tenzin and Lin and Su, you're looking at Kiyoshi Elementary's newest, full-time gym teacher.”

The feeling – the glow – spreads out slowly from Asami's thumping chest until she can feel it brimming just under the surface of her skin at her toes, at her ears, her nose, her fingertips; her hand moves from Korra's cheek to the back of her neck and they laugh in a quiet way, a way that lets Asami feel Korra's smile against her mouth without tasting it.

Despite all parts of her being sending alarming and strong signals to just do it, Asami doesn't kiss Korra just yet. She allows to Korra to fiddle more with her hair, because it felt so nice just to be _touched_ and feel warmth from it, a different feeling than the being-kissed-feeling.

(She figures she'll most definitely like the Korra-kissing-her-feeling the most, so she wants to save the best for last).

Korra's mouth leaves the closeness of Asami's own, which makes her ribs tighten, but Korra's lips press against Asami's hairline and the pressure inside her chest releases her lungs from captivity.

A hum warms Asami's skin. “I've never seen you with your hair down,” Korra muses, scrunching Asami's bunch with stiff fingers.

“Rarely anyone does,” Asami says, toying with the seam of Korra's tank-top near her chest; Asami's hair tie loosens, suddenly, and her hair is spilling down in soft waves behind her shoulders, wild strands tickling the underside of her jaw.

Korra takes Asami in, traces Asami's jaw, illuminated by the moon, with gentle fingers, and she leans forwards, and _you're gorgeous_ falls loose from her tongue.

Asami leans, too, and the stars watch down on them in the solace of their hidden valley.

 

 

 

(Instead of kissing, however, intruding footsteps sprinting their way tear them apart, and Bolin rallies both Asami and Korra from their rock, kicking the six pack down the other side of the hill and shakes the girls – literally, he takes them by the shoulders and _shakes_ them – from the trance them embraced themselves in.

“Lin is coming!” He yells in a whisper. “Run!”

Admittedly, Asami is teeming with all sorts of annoyance, and as she and Korra run, hand in hand, following Mako through the forest, she plots her vengeance and imagines what would happen if she was to trip Bolin while Lin chases after them, hollering for them to get their “ _scrawny, delinquent asses back here,_ ” before she “ _turns them all into tomorrow's lunch special_ ”.)

 

 

 

“ _Seriously_ , you haven't kissed her yet?”

Asami frowns into her cereal, a hangover still creeping around inside her throbbing skull.

“Well, I _would_ have, if boy wonder over here hadn't _ruined_ it.”

Bolin wags his spoon, flinging cereal Opal's way. “Hey, I was saving you from Lin's chopping block. You would've been minced meat!” He tosses his hands in the air; Opal takes his spoon away before he can throw it across the mess hall and hit someone in the head with it. “I'm not even joking when I say she probably would've had eaten you alongside her Wheaties for breakfast this morning.”

Asami scowls. “Yeah, well, I'm stuck on dish duty for the rest of the summer. I'd have rather been digested by Lieutenant Sourpuss by now.”

(Across the way, Lin's eyes lift from above her newspaper, narrowing in Asami's direction).

“At least you're not Korra.” Opal takes a bite from her pear, says around a mouthful: “Poor kid, has to scrub toilets.”

“At least it's not the _boy's_ toilets,” Bolin cuts in, snatching his spoon back. “Mako might have it worse.”

The three finish their breakfast with Asami not contributing much else to the conversation (if she's being honest, she wish she had tripped Bolin last night, and is _really_ regretting not doing so), and Asami heads to the kitchen, stretching rubber gloves over her fingers and awaits the onslaught of dishes preparing to come her way.

At least Pema's thankful for her help.

Five minutes in to washing dishes, she sees Korra from the kitchen window bolting from the girl's bathroom, dry-heaving. Asami decides she's not going to ask later.

Korra tries to tell her later, though. Asami shoves a sticky roll into her mouth.

 

 

 

 The river's quiet this time of morning; no strong winds to accelerate the current, warm and gentle ripples that lap against Asami's toes along the shoreline. The tranquility of it is iridescent, the sun fadining in it's colors to drip orange and yellow paint into the once inky black night sky reflecting upon the water.

The mosquitoes are a dull thrumming in the back of her skull; birds take over where insect noise falls absent.

Asami's bow rests at her side. Unsheathing an arrow, she smoothes her thumb along the arrow head ridges, watching the tip press her skin white. She ballances the arrow on the tips of her fingers, and the weight of it is almost vacant, save the heavy pierce at the far end, pulling it down towards the surface.

Footsteps travel her way from behind, and Mako sits beside her in the sand, cautious to move her bow to the side. He watches the water ripple around Asami's toes; she doesn't mind the comfort of his presence.

"You been awake for a while?" he asks, plucking a nearby stick from the grass and tracing along the sand in circles.

Asami hums, leaning back into the sun. The blistering skin along her nose stings in protest.

"If you're up for it, we can take a kayak out?" Mako glances her way. "It usually helps clear my head."

Asami gives him a tender smile. "I don't know if my head is cloudy or just fogged up."

"What do you mean?"

Asami pushes her tongue past her teeth, into her cheek. "I'd rather not say."

Mako nods, forcing his stick deeper into the sand. "So you _haven't_ kissed her yet?" his voice is taunting. Asami's mood sours.

Glowering, Asami turns to face Mako, flicks him in the ear and shoves his shoulder a bit too roughly. "Why is that any of _your_ business?"

He laughs as he inches father away in the sand. "That's what Pema told me."

The summer heat drains from Asami's face, floods together in the base of her palms. She covers her face with her hands, rubs at her skin, hoping to restore some color.

It's bad enough that the whole camp (possibly) knows; it's even worse that _Pema_ gave Mako the news. Asami admired Pema, and the thought of Pema getting swept up in campfire gossip centered around Asami was mortifying just to _think_ bout.

A smirk tugs at Mako's lips. "You should probably kiss her soon-"

"Boy, that kayaking-thing sure seems like a lot of fun, let's go." Asami pulls Mako up from the sand by the collar of his shirt, dragging to the boathouse, her steps burning holes into the grass.

"You should probably-"

"I'm working on it, dude."

 

 

 

The campfire roars and masks Bolin in a menacing glow as he parades around the pit, arms hunched and moaning, like he's Frankenstein, but the kids seem to buy into his story. Asami doesn't quite know how he does it.

Opal passes Korra a cup while Lin looks towards Bolin in exasperation, and Korra looks down inside the cup, frowning.

“You snuck me water?”

Opal glances from the side of her eye.

Korra shrugs her shoulders, takes a swig. Her eyes shoot wide open, and though she manages to keep it down, she starts coughing viciously. Bolin shoots her another one of his menacing glares.

“Not... water,” Korra wheezes, handing Opal back the cup.

Once Korra remembers how breathing works – slow inhales and slow exhales – she moves in closer to Asami, and rests her hand against the small of Asami's back, using her thumb to inch her way under the fabric of Asami's hoodie, then her shirt, and her fingers press fire into Asami's skin and Asami gasps – though, she covers it with a pretend sneeze as people turn to look back towards the noise.

Korra's hand seems to burn through her flesh the higher it travels up Asami's spine, eventually finding the clasp of Asami's bra, where her fingers toy with the fabric, setting Asami's senses ablaze, until Korra is the only sensation she's feeling.

Closer now, even, Korra husks into Asami's ear, “I have something to ask you.”

Asami nods in a way that would be incomprehensible to anyone other than Korra that happened to look their way.

Teeth graze Asami's ear, and there's nothing else she can focus on but Korra and the presence of Korra so close to her, and one clip in her bra clasp comes undone, and Korra asks, “Do I make you wet?”

The heat, the nerves, all of Asami's senses drain down to the apex of her thighs.

Her nails dig crescents into the exposed skin of Korra's calves. “Counselor's cabin. Wait five minutes.”

Asami stands – she blows off her sudden head rush as her tripping over a shoelace when Opal asks – and makes a bee line for the darkness that covers her path on her way to the cabin.

Inside, Asami slams the door and sinks back against it, pulse racing and thriving under her skin. She runs her hands over her face, wondering why her cheeks are no longer warm, and then – her jeans rub the wrong way and, yep, _there's_ the heat – and she paces back and forth burning holes into the oak flooring of, when she hears footsteps outside and she doesn't quite know what to do with her hair, but.

Two stifling knocks on the door. Asami swings it open, and Korra steps inside.

The door closes and Asami grabs Korra by the hoodie, slamming her back against the cabin door, and – finally – presses Korra's mouth to her own and the world lifts her from her feet, only to slam her down again when she pulls away to take a breath and feels Korra's tongue.

Asami's head spins.

She pulls Korra closer, throws both her own jacket and Korra's somewhere, but their hooked by the mouth and Asami is all Korra, all bare lips and biting teeth and tongue – _so much tongue_ – and Korra has Asami moving back towards the kitchen, her hands sliding up Asami's abdomen from under her shirt.

Korra yanks Asami's shirt from over her head, takes Asami's hair out of her bun much more gently, and undoes the zipper and button on Asami's jeans. There's too much fabric keeping Asami from Korra's skin as Korra slips her hand inside Asami's jeans, teasing her over the thin fabric still tucking all of Asami away, and Asami has Korra's shirt over her head in seconds and – _holy hell_ – and Korra has her fingers inside Asami before there's even time for either of them to breathe.

Asami spends the night leaving bruises over Korra's body and wondering if the entire camp can hear her calling Korra's name to the sky.

 

 

 

(The couch in the cabin could barely hold one, and Asami and Korra were both upon it, tangled up in each other, bare and quiet as they finally settle down. Asami traces heart above Korra's chest.

“You have,” Asami walks her fingers along Korra's collarbone, “ _really_ nice abs.”

Korra laughs into Asami's hair.

“And I like you,” Asami says. “I like you a lot.”

Korra pulls her closer and says, “I like you a _lot_ a lot.”

It's the last thing they say to each other before silence pulls them into sleep).

 

 

 

They steal time whenever they can, but they were never as lucky as the first night. Sometimes Asami has to pull Korra into the shower with her, and that's the only time during the day they get to spend with one another, other than lunch.

(Asami likes to make Korra's hair into a soapy mohawk, though, so there's not much complaining on her front).

She always catches Korra sneaking glances at the archery station when she's walking her campers up from the river, and Korra sends her the warmest of smiles as Asami pulls back the arrow. Her heart flutters and she hits the bulls-eye every time, even if she's not looking.

Sometimes, Asami wanders towards the dock when Tenzin's not looking, and catches Mako teaching Korra how to buff a scrape from the belly of a kayak, and Asami's smile is a secret one, tender, as she watches to two of them and disappears before they can see her watching over them.

Time passes so quick Asami almost forgets about the second camping trip that's tomorrow; she hasn't even prepared her campers, let alone packed for herself.

She calls her cabin back early from the campfire in order to have them pack and to talk to them about the trail.

Not surprisingly, they're interested in other things rather than what to do if a rattle-rat attacks.

“So,” one of the Mai's scoots closer on her bed. “You and Korra?”

Asami's ears burn red. “Your safety is more important than my-”

“I _totally_ saw them kissing in the kitchen the other day,” Kai pipes in, dodging the crumpled up piece of paper Asami tosses at his head.

Jinora's smile turns wicked, and she starts the teasing with, “Asami and Korra, sitting in a tree.”

And soon, the rest of the cabin chimes in: _k-i-s-s-i-n-g_

(Asami scowls. “You all are too old for this.”)

Morning breaks and Asami wakes her campers up (quite rudely, with an air horn – payback for the night before), and they trudge bleary-eyed out of their cabin and into their designated groups, the boys splitting apart from the girls. Lin blows a whistle, and everyone stands straighter, and she leads the girls one direction, while Tenzin leads the boys in another.

The trek this time isn't at an incline – _thank God_ , Asami was afraid her thighs wouldn't make it – but it was, however, lengthier, and when Opal tried to start up a rousing song, Asami and Korra following in after, Lin snapped around to glare at them and the rest of the trip was made in silence.

Just as dark began to rise over the mountains, the set up camp alongside a lake Asami had never been to before, with a beautiful waterfall flowing in from the south.

The campers tuck in early after the hike, and the counselors follow suit, exempt Korra and Asami. The pair snuck over to the waterfall; water crashing against the rocks drowning out the faint noise of mosquitoes that Asami _swore_ on her _life_ were following her to taunt her. Korra leads Asami to the other side of the waterfall, far enough away that the water wasn't crashing against their ears but was still a persistent lull in their background.

They lay in the leaves, and Asami examines their hands, loosely intertwined. She brings Korra's calloused knuckles to her mouth, kissing each one, each other kiss lasting longer than the one that came before it.

“Aren't you going to miss home?” Asami lay on her side, elbow propping her up to rest her head in her hands, the other hand splayed open across Korra's stomach. “Aren't you going to miss your _dog_?”

Korra shares a laugh with herself. “My dad is coming down after summer. He's bringing Naga with him.”

“Aren't you going to miss the rest of it?”

Korra turns her head in the leaves, broken pieces sticking in her hair. She faces Asami, her expression calm.

“Maybe,” she says. “But I wanted a change, and I knew everyone they lived in a ten mile radius of me, and. I don't know.” Korra faces the sky again. “Sometimes, even the quiet is too loud.”

Asami remains quiet, moves her fingertips to trace the curve of Korra's bottom lip.

“I have a question.” Korra looks into Asami's eyes, and something in her eyes reads _small_ , and Asami's unsettled by the thought.

“Go for it.” Asami gives her an encouraging smile.

“Is... this,” Korra gestures between them. “Just like, a fling? Just for over the summer?”

Panic creeps up the back of Asami's neck. It floods her chest, and her heart pounds irregular, like crashing waves, like broken thunder.

Alaska wasn't hanging over their heads anymore, and Asami was hoping that many a coffee dates and restless nights and, hopefully, calmer mornings would be in their future.

She hopes she hadn't thought too much into it, but maybe she has.

“Do-” Asami takes an uneven breath. “Do you want it to be?”

Korra looks down at Asami's hand, frozen underneath her shirt and resting along her stomach. “I mean, I _was_ hoping I'd have a really cool girlfriend who could teach me how to drive, but.” Korra shrugs, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

The waterfall, what was background noise, turns to white, and the humming of the mosquitoes fades to black, and Korra is blue and warm and more than black and white, and _girlfriend_ , and.

Asami rolls over in the leaves and presses their mouths together, and she smiles against Korra's smile and there's a pounding radiating from her chest that she's not sure who it belongs to.

Kisses trace their way around Korra's jaw and Asami wonders what her red lipstick would look like smeared across Korra's skin.

 

 

 

The closing campfire invites the parents of the campers, and Asami's not one much for crowds, so she takes longer to pack her cabin up. She dreads having to feel her cellphone vibrate from her assistant in the next few hours. Summer didn't feel over yet.

Walking from her cabin and seeing the crowd made Asami's skin flare, and she sneaks around the back, making way towards her tree for one last look for the summer.

Mako catches her eye from over bald heads, and the smile he sends her way eases her discomfort and anxiety about leaving. He knows she hates having to go back.

The tree is occupied when she arrives, though, and Korra looks up from the hammock, only to open her arms for Asami to sink into. Korra's chest feels strong, feels sturdy, and the sun begins to skin behind the riverbank, leaving the night to turn dark.

Korra buries her nose in Asami's hair. “Does this mean I get to see your hair down more often?”

Asami shares an open laugh, toys with their hands in her lap.

“When are you free next?”

Asami's smile falls at the corners. “Friday, but only for lunch.”

The arms around Asami's torso tighten; fireflies dance across her vision, floating just beyond her reach.

“I need to find a good take out restaurant in Republic City.” Korra twists a strand of Asami's hair around her thumb. “Will you help me find one?”

“Sure,” Asami says, nuzzling Korra's jaw with her nose. “When?”

“How does Friday at around lunchtime sound?”

Asami's ribs expand, making room for her growing heart, and a familiar glow begins to spread warmth underneath her skin, and her last summer sun finally lays itself to rest beyond the riverbank.

Asami pulls Korra into her chest. “Sounds perfect.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading and being patient with me i owe u all a million favors and also apologies and thank you for reading!!! lemme know watcha though


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